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Wednesday, 20 April 2011

Burnham Beeches Nostalgia

I've returned to my homeland! Well that is I'm back in the land of my youth aka "Down South". I'm off to London tomorrow to attend the Graco Press Event as a brand ambassador. En route we stopped off at a place where both my husband and I spent many an hour as children.

Burnham Beeches is a woodland just a few miles outside of Slough. In spite of its proximity to the grey town of my birth, Burnham Beeches is a beautiful wooded oasis. I played here as a child and loved clambouring over fallen trees, jumping over streams and finding the famous giant ants that live there! It was lovely introducing Freddy and Kizzy to these delights.

It has changed a lot in the last 30 years. There is now an eco friendly cafe and information centre which has made it more of a tourist attraction. But we headed off the beaten track to the playground of our youth.

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Eco Freindly Toilet Block!

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Ian used to live just round the corner from Burnham Beeches and my family went every Sunday for a walk around the woods. We wondered if our paths had ever crossed before we officially met aged 11 in secondary school! He would have been the kid on the Chopper doing stunts. I would have been the little girl slightly embarrassed by her parents, who used to take cut up oranges to bait the giant ants! My mum used to wear open toed sandals and would scream as the ants crawled over her bare feet!

The Ants' Nest

﻿It was lovely to see Kizzy and Freddy enjoying the woodland walk. It was a lovely sunny day and it broke the journey up perfectly. Kizzy was terrified of the giant ants and their big nests and was convinced that they were crawling up her trouser legs...but apart from that, it was a fabulous touch of nostalgia for both me and Ian.

Oh gosh - I remember those horrible giant ants there were literally hundreds, possibly thousands, of the little horrors and yes, I was scared, really scared. However, there were some lovely walks in the area and I look back at those with pleasure. So glad you enjoyed your nostalgic trip.

My Nans ashes are scattered at Burnham Beeches, My mum grew up in Farnham royale just down the road! I've never explored there properly, I've only been with my Mum to see my Nan's tree but I really should take J there to explore like my Mum and her brothers did with her parents when they were kids! Thanks for a wonderful reminder :D

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About Me

I consider myself very blessed. I am happily married to my childhood sweetheart ... although the path to now has not been exactly linear! I have five amazing children,born in each of the reproductive decades of my life...my teens, 20's, 30's and 40's! I'm fortunate enough to be a stay at home mum and this stay at home status means I'm on hand 24/7 for all the dramas that befall the the clan. My eldest son who is thriving in the workplace and is a daddy for the first time to baby Ted (making me a Grandma!); my eldest daughter who is embarking on amazing new adventures in both her work life and personal life; my guitar playing university student daughter; my punk rock loving teenager and my wonderfully quirky little school boy provide plenty of entertainment to keep me busy. Combine that with my gadget obsessed, vinyl loving husband, and you have life "Inside the Wendy House!"